Eden Lake

Director James Watkins, Producers Christian Colson & Richard Holmes, Celador Films - 2008

When nursery teacher Jenny (Kelly Reilly) escapes to the country for a relaxing weekend away with her boyfriend  (Michael Fassbennder) she is unaware of a romantic surprise he has in store. The location is perfect. A lake enclosed by woodlands, seemingly deserted. But before the happy couple can enjoy the retreat, their peace is shattered by a gang of violent youths. What begins is a shocking and unrelenting game of cat–and–mouse, as Jenny is forced to fight back against her aggressors. 

Shot on a tight budget of £1.3m every location had to be chosen carefully and dressed with bold character and theme in mind. From scenes before their first encounter with the teenages treated with warmth and light (above) and those afterwards with dirty textures, deep shadows and ghastly colour pallet.

Many recce’s were made of the area we were based in to find an unmodernised house that I could dress for the home of the ferrel teenagers pareants and the final act of the film. The owners possessions were removed and replaced with hired furniture.

As the scenes were set at night I dressed in a lot of interesting light sources, helped by the scripted party taking place in the background. I chose to contrast this sickly orange colour theme with the terrifying and brutal action unfolding in front of us.